Howard is the author of The Desert of Souls (Thomas Dunne Books 2011), a historical fantasy set in the 8th century Abbasid caliphate featuring the characters Dabir and Asim, who’ve been appearing in a variety of short fiction venues since 2000. His Pathfinder novel, Plague of Shadows, appeared in March of 2011. His collection of Dabir and Asim short stories, The Waters of Eternity, became available in e-form from Thomas Dunne Books in November of 2011. More Dabir and Asim novels will follow, and he has recently signed to write a sequel to Plague of Shadows.

About Paul

Paul is a writer of speculative fiction, sword and sorcery scribe, Star Wars and Forgotten Realms author, creator of Erevis Cale and Egil and Nix. His books include The Erevis Cale Trilogy, Shadow’s Witness, The Twilight War Trilogy, War of the Spider Queen, and the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels: Crosscurrent, The Old Republic: Deceived & Riptide.

7 Responses to Epsiode 092 – Howard Andrew Jones and Paul S. Kemp

I had expected a S&S theme (since both authors write in that genre). I was not expecting the tie-in theme, although now its obvious in retrospect 🙂

Not that the Zelazny estate would allow it, but if Howard could write a tie-in novel about a band of protagonists doing dirty jobs for one of the Princes or Princesses of Amber in the Golden Circle, I *would* be hounding his door wondering when it was done.

Paul, I’m sure the Zelazny estate would never allow it, but if I ever got the chance, the Amber books I would write would be based on one of the most amazing gaming adventures I ever played, plotted and game mastered by my wife, for the Amber diceless game. The whole thing was set in Chaos and she got everything right, down to and including the atmosphere, secrets about the way the universe truly worked, even cliffhanger plot twists. A more pleasurable experience for me and our gaming group than the second Amber series itself. I married a clever lady…

Although he revised it heavily and filed off the serial numbers to near-non recognition, John C Wright’s “Orphans of Chaos” trilogy does have its story seed in a Amber game he and his wife ran. But you have to know that to even have a clue of seeing it in anything he wrote.

There are more Amber fans and Amber game players out there than people think. How do you think I know Elizabeth Bear or her agent Jennifer Jackson? 🙂

I didn’t know Bear was a huge Zelazny fan — I had a chance to sit and talk with her and Scott Lynch and Saladin Ahmed for hours at ConFusion. We talked a lot about Leiber, but didn’t get around to Zelazny.

And speaking of the big Z, I dropped in a reference to the Chronicles in the Plague of Shadows, though it was a pretty mild tip of the hat. I’d completely forgotten about that until someone sent me a note about it the other day.

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